Perry Puts Puts Out Fire On Quran, Mosque, Budget

A press conference with a purpose. It doesn’t always turn out as a campaign would intend. Aimed at announcing his endorsement from the Texas Medical Association last week, Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s Republican candidate for the same office, found himself bombarded with border security questions. Aside from a few overly-prefaced questions from journalists, the Governor didn’t seem to mind the switch in topics. Perhaps it will be a pattern during the weeks leading up to election day.

What a round of heavy topics the Governor faced on Friday. From the Quran to mosques to the state’s budget shortfall, the whirlwind of statements that followed fell far from the reason he was at this particular event.

The Texas State Association of Firefighters told a crowd it followed the “friendly incumbent rule.” Guy Turner, the group’s president stood alongside the Governor, announcing the endorsement from nearly 16,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers across the state.

“We support those whose votes and actions support our members and their families,” Turner explained. “Gov. Rick Perry has consistently supported the issues related to public safety, and, in particular, he’s been an advocate for the health and safety of firefighters and EMS workers across our state.”

Quickly, the subjects switched. The intention – mere reactions from Perry regarding big news headlines hitting our nation at this time. What would the Governor say? What would he do in those situations?

Quran - Courtesy: Online Reading Corner

Hype surrounding Rev. Terry Jones’ mission to burn the Quran

Perry’s Point of View:

“I don’t condone those types of activities. Whether it’s burning an American flag or burning a Bible or burning a Quran. The fact of the matter is, Americans have a 1st Amendment right. And we may not like what they’re doing, but they’ve got the right.”

“In a civil society, my read on that is a very objectionable act and shouldn’t do it.”

Bitter battle over proposed mosque near Ground Zero

Perry’s Point of View:

“From the standpoint of the mosque, we have clearly said that it needs to be built somewhere else. But again, in America you have a right to have your private property. Hopefully, cooler minds will prevail and all of those activities and the vast majority of people in this county realize that those actions in a lot of cases are just to get attention.”

Courtesy: East Carolina University

Texas’ $18 billion budget shortfall

Perry’s Point of View:

“I think that everyone’s got a fairly good handle on that we’re going to have to be making some prioritizations of our budget just like we did in 2003. Our process is in place. We know when the comptroller is going to be making her estimate. I think everybody’s prepared to make priority decisions and fund the things that are important to the state of Texas. The idea that we need to have a monthly projection of what our revenue is, is probably a classic example of more government than we need. And a cost associated with running all of those is not particularly helpful.”

“In 2003, that comptroller missed the budget estimate by a factor of 2, so let’s wait until we really know what the numbers are. We’re already started paring down our budgets. We had a 5% request, now we’ve got a 10% request in the future outlay. I don’t particularly think it’s a good use of the comptrollers time to do budget estimates every time somebody pokes their head up out of the hole and says, ‘Let’s do a budget estimate.’ I think our process works. It has worked well for decades and decades in Texas, and I’m not particularly concerned that we’re not going to be able to deal with the budget. At the end of the day, we will have a balanced budget without raising taxes.”

“I’m not downplaying it. I’m not downplaying it at all. I’ve been governor of Texas for 10 years. I’ve been involved in the appropriations process for 25 years. I think I am probably one of the most experienced persons in Texas in dealing with our budget. I was on the appropriations committee for two legislative sessions. So the idea that I’m downplaying it, I don’t think you’ve ever heard us say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, the money’s going to be there.’ I’ve said, ‘We’re going to prioritize.’ You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to understand that we have a major financial crisis on our hands, thanks mostly to an administration and a Congress that has been out of control on their spending. The most powerful thing that could happen in America is if this Congress would go back in and clearly state that they’re not going to be spending anymore money and that they’re actually going to cut spending. That’s what the people want to see, and frankly that’s the type of confidence that people would have in the federal government if they would go in and say they’re going to cut spending instead of another ‘hare um, scare um’ scheme of throwing stimulus out and claiming it’s going to create jobs. People know it’s not going to do that. It’s only going to create more debt and more burden.”

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A press conference with a purpose. It doesn’t always turn out as a campaign would intend. Aimed at announcing his endorsement by the Texas Medical Association last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s Republican candidate for the same office, found himself bombarded with border security questions. Aside from a few overly-prefaced questions from journalists, the Governor didn’t seem to mind the switch in topics. Perhaps it will be a pattern during the weeks leading up to election day.

What a day of heavy topics the Governor faced on Friday. From the Quran to mosques to the state’s budget shortfall, the whirlwind of statements that followed fell far from the reason he was at this particular event.

The Texas State Association of Firefighters told a crowd it followed the “friendly incumbent rule.” Guy Turner, the group’s president stood alongside the governor, announcing the endorsement from nearly 16,000 firefighters and emergency medical workers across the state.

“We support those whose votes and actions support our members and their families,” Turner explained. “Gov. Rick Perry has consistently supported the issues related to public safety, and, in particular, he’s been an advocate for the health and safety of firefighters and EMS workers across our state.”

Quickly, the subjects switched. The intention – mere reactions from Perry regarding big news headlines hitting our nation at this time. What would the Governor say? What would he do in those situations?

Hype surrounding Rev. Terry Jones and his mission to burn the Quran

Perry’s Point of View:

“I don’t condone those types of activities. Whether it’s burning an American flag or burning a Bible or burning a Quran. The fact of the matter is, Americans have a 1st Amendment right. And we may not like what they’re doing, but they’ve got the right.”

“In a civil society, my read on that is a very objectionable act and shouldn’t do it.”

Bitter battle over proposed mosque near Ground Zero

Perry’s Point of View:

“From the standpoint of the mosque, we have clearly said that it needs to be built somewhere else. But again, in America you have a right to have your private property. Hopefully, cooler minds will prevail and all of those activities and the vast majority of people in this county realize that those actions in a lot of cases are just to get attention.”

Texas’ $18 billion budget shortfall

Perry’s Point of View:

“I think that everyone’s got a fairly good handle on that we’re going to have to be making some prioritizations of our budget just like we did in 2003. Our process is in place. We know when the comptroller is going to be making her estimate. I think everybody’s prepared to make priority decisions and fund the things that are important to the state of Texas. The idea that we need to have a monthly projection of what our revenue is, is probably a classic example of more government than we need. And a cost associated with running all of those is not particularly helpful.”

“In 2003, that comptroller missed the budget estimate by a factor of 2, so let’s wait until we really know what the numbers are. We’re already started paring down our budgets. We had a 5% request, now we’ve got a 10% request in the future outlay. I don’t particularly think it’s a good use of the comptrollers time to do budget estimates every time somebody pokes their head up out of the hole and says, ‘Let’s do a budget estimate.’ I think our process works. It has worked well for decades and decades in Texas, and I’m not particularly concerned that we’re not going to be able to deal with the budget. At the end of the day, we will have a balanced budget without raising taxes.”

“I’m not downplaying it. I’m not downplaying it at all. I’ve been governor of Texas for 10 years. I’ve been involved in the appropriations process for 25 years. I think I am probably one of the most experienced persons in Texas in dealing with our budget. I was on the appropriations committee for two legislative sessions. So the idea that I’m downplaying it, I don’t think you’ve ever heard us say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, the money’s going to be there.’ I’ve said, ‘We’re going to prioritize.’ You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to understand that we have a major financial crisis on our hands, thanks mostly to an administration and a Congress that has been out of control on their spending. The most powerful thing that could happen in America is if this Congress would go back in and clearly state that they’re not going to be spending anymore money and that they’re actually going to cut spending. That’s what the people want to see, and frankly that’s the type of confidence that people would have in the federal government if they would go in and say they’re going to cut spending instead of another ‘hare um, scare um’ scheme of throwing stimulus out and claiming it’s going to create jobs. People know it’s not going to do that. It’s only going to create more debt and more burden.”